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Tag: Self-Publishing

I’m so psyched about self-publishing. I’m holding myself back because producing a book without another round of edits could hurt. Investing in an editor appears to be the right thing to do along side purchasing copyrights from the Library of Congress.

Two obstacles remain: Money and more stories.

Any writer or any professional will tell you to keep your job while you’re writing novels, collections, etc. I know I’ll have to take a risk eventually, but I want it to be a calculated risk.

With Christmas over, we’re all getting psyched for that moment, counting the last few seconds until, bang! 2017! Along with celebrations, there are declarations of change. How long they will last is up to whoever has made such a promise.

Those promises are known as New Years’ Resolutions, the promise we all want to follow through with as Father Time ushers us into the new year. However, consistency is more difficult than it seems when we attempt to alter our routines and old habits.

Sure, we all know the malarkey that comes with a resolution, but the fun in its creation and creativity is unparalleled.

Exercise the right to set a goal, yet push for stability. Once that first week passes by, prepare for procrastination. Fight it. Tell it, “Go to hell!”

For me, I have a few items on my list of things to accomplish in 2017.

My personal and somewhat realistic resolutions:

Increase persistence of freelance endeavors

Blog more

Work on multiple projects at once

Make better investments in regards to self-publishing

I’m certain that one of these will stick more than the next. They’re all great ideas, but they need some substance.

I’ve visited self-publishing many times through WordPress. It’s something I have to try, but it’s also one the costly processes I’ve researched thus far. Of course, I can go with the traditional route and submit my work to a publishing house. As we all know, getting through a publisher with an unsolicited manuscript could land in the discard pile no matter how good the writing is.

Self-publishing seems to be the way to go. It’s DIY process to getting the content out there. The upside: The author becomes the publisher. They yield 100 percent of the profits. They get all the credit through copyright.

The downs: All of the work is on the author, and the process is extensive. Promotion, marketing, and cost is all on the self-publisher. Let’s not forger editing. And yes, as an author and publisher, an editor is required to polish the written content. As the author, you’ve seen the story over a hundred times. A second or third pair of eyes will help flesh out those characters and inconsistencies you might have missed.

It’s quite a journey, but I imagine that a future publishing house will take you more seriously if they see you’ve gone through the proper channels to get self-published.

What are the proper channels?

From my research, here’s what I found.

In the event that an author wants to self-publish, the author should:

Purchase ISBNs from the website Bowker. The website suggests 10 ISBNs which costs $295 (price subject to change). Barcodes (about $25) are designed to stand on the book cover, which hosts the ISBN along with other vital information on the book edition such as Hard Cover, Paperback, or eBook.

Purchase copyrights from the Library of Congress. By right, the author is entitled to copyright for creating the work. Registering your work with Library of Congress sets it in stone further protecting your work. It’s a safeguard investment everyone should take.

Make sure manuscripts have been edited by others. All solid, good books have editors. CreateSpace seems to be a good source to start. If not, find an editor that can do several rounds of editing ensuring the content.

Find a graphic artist whose skilled at book covers. It’s part of the investment. If the self-publisher is an artsy person, then time will be only invest there.

Promotion and marketing. Getting the word out is easy but like this entire process, it will take time. Self-publishers have to funnel through hashtags and posts to get the message out, “Buy my book!” Don’t forget a solid synopsis. If you can, see if you schedule an interview with your local media.

Again this is my research. I haven’t actually done all of this yet, but I’m really close. Soon, I will purchase the ISBNs. Finding an editor for the nine (or ten) short stories I’ve written is much tougher than buying the ISBNs. But I’m coming along.

I just finished my last proofread and edit. The six stories are complete. But I think the book could use one more story.

So tonight, I will start that story which will be entitled, “Dwellers.”

In addition to the last story of Foot in the Door, I want to release another collection of flash stories. The plan is to have at least fifty flash stories. Why fifty? I want the word count to be over 10,000. But it’s going to take more than a coke and a smile to do that–so I will writing from random prompts to push that goal forward.

Now that I’m near completion of Foot in the Door…Well, allow me to say that phase one is finished. Phase two is finding a beta reader I can trust. Phase three is promoting my work. Phase four is promoting my work and working to get published. Honestly, I have no idea how many phases it will take. I’m just very happy that I finally finished these stories.

Keep your eyes open folks–Foot in the Door is breaking into the literary world!!

I’m so close to finishing my first book. For those of you who just found Black Board, I have a book, a collection of short stories not published yet, entitled Foot in the Door. The book follows various young black men whose inner strength grows as they toil through the challenges they are expected to crumble under. My target audience is young black men; however, I want to make these stories interesting for all readers. Besides, what writer narrows his audience down to one group. I want everyone to enjoy my literary illustrations.

The challenge: I have to decide if I want to take this to a publisher or self-publish through an entity like Amazon Kindle. I’ve read several eHow, About, and other FAQ pages about what my next step should be. Also, I’ve followed the Writer’s Digest on Twitter to get a sense of what my next move should be. At the end of the day, it’s my decision. I discovered that there is no right path to take. Everything instance is different. The only for sure thing is to try everything as many times as possible, in regards to a publisher.

With self-publishing…I will be in control. From price to promotion–it’s all up to me. I enjoy that concept. There is some hard work that follows. Getting people I DO NOT know to like the content I produce is going to be a challenge. Let’s face it. People are critical. Only a few will tell the truth, and the rest just don’t care. Pushing out content on my own is a ego-risk. The question arises: “Is this good?” Of course, I’ll feel that it’s good. I’ve worked hard on it forever. But what will others say? I want to give them their money’s worth.